Sunvite and Skimboards

This past weekend was Debayte’s first competition of the New Year! In total we took 89 of our speech and debate squad to NSU’s Sunvitational National Tournament where we competed with 1500 kids from over 12 different states. The weekend was filled with long hours of nerves, excitement and lots of competition, as well as some really great food trucks for us to indulge and to keep us competitors fueled up. Moreover, many of the national tournaments we attend throughout the year are fun and exciting but this tournament holds a special place in the heart of Cypress Debayte. The last five years Cypress has placed 1st in an event to take home the winning trophy of a hand painted skimboard by a local artist. This weekend we were able to make that happen for a 6th year in a row!

So without further ado, please congratulate most notably, Maya Hedrick (junior) was the champion in Dramatic Interpretation winning a highly coveted skim board trophy. However, Maya was not the only success this weekend. Additionally, Shawn Dermer, Roberto Fernandez, Mackenzie Hirsh, Liraz Stilman, Sharan Sawlani, Matthew Liebman, Rachel Gutner, Hannah Gutner, and Maeghanan Fitzgerald all earned bids to the Tournament of Champions. We have collectively as a team received over 20 bids this year in speech and debate!